Swein Asleifsson was not a person
with whom anyone would wish to fall out. He punched above his weight. He
literally put the fear of death into his nominal overlords, the Earls of
Orkney. Unlike Earls Magnus and Rognvald, who also lived in the 12th
Century, Swein was never a candidate for sainthood.

We learn virtually all we know of
Swein from the Orkneyinga Saga, written around 1200 by an unknown
Icelandic scribe. The Saga described Swein as being, among his peers, “the
greatest man in the Western Lands, either in olden times or present day”.

The Sagas are long on action and
short on analysis of personal traits and utterances, however, so to a
great extent any assessment of Swein must be by deduction from his
actions.

Swein was the son of Olaf, a Viking
Chief, and his wife, Asleif. He was born about 1116 in Caithness some
three centuries after, in the words of Edinburgh University lecturer Bill
Ritchie, ‘the Vikings started to create a stushie all over Europe’.

Swein displayed all of the
characteristics expected of a Viking. He was acquisitive, ruthless and
daring and he died a Viking death, with his sword in his hand.

He had all of the Viking
characteristics to excess so in a sense he was not typical, he was over
the top. That is why the distinguished Orcadian writer Eric Linklater
described him as ‘The Ultimate Viking’. He has also been described as ‘The
Last Great Viking’.

Swein is significant as examination
of his life sheds light on the life of leading Vikings based in the North
of Scotland in the 12th Century - on their exploits, power struggles,
politics and shifting relationships.

Swein was so charismatic and
influential that he even seemed to be able to swan into the presence of
the Kings of Scotland wherever they happened to be at the time and was
accepted by them as a friend.

In 1135 Swein’s father was burned
to death by Olvir Rosta, whose grandmother Frakork was one of Olaf's
greatest enemies.

Around this time Earl Paul
dominated in Orkney while Earl Rognvald resided in Shetland.

In 1136 Swein captured Earl Paul in
Orkney and took him to Perthshire, from where Paul never returned. Some
two years later Swein showed his influence by being involved in reaching
an agreement whereby Harald, son of Earl Maddad, would share Orkney with
Rognvald.

Swein was by then one of the most
powerful men in the North, as he had inherited the estates of his father
and his late brother, Valthiof. He had a stronghold at Lambaborg Castle,
thought to have been at Freswick in Caithness. He also had a castle on
Gairsay in Orkney.

About four years after his father’s
death, Swein again demonstrated his influence by getting ships and men
from Earl Rognvald, which enabled him to wreak vengeance by killing
Frakork and causing Olvir to flee.

Swein’s exploits took him the length and breadth of Britain. In 1140 he
received a message from Holbodi in the Hebrides asking him to help as Hold
from Wales had attacked him. Swein and Holbodi plundered Wales,
unsuccessfully besieging Hold on the Island of Lundy in the Bristol
Channel.

After going to the Isle of Man, Swein married Ingirid, widow of a local
chieftain, and settled for a period. By the spring of 1141 Holbodi had
made a secret pact with Hold and unsuccessfully attacked Swein in the Isle
of Man. Swein then moved to Lewis in the Hebrides until he returned to
Gairsay in 1143.

Swein subsequently procured five
ships from Earl Rognvald and caused Holbodi, by now back in the Hebrides,
to flee.

After their return to Caithness
Thorbiorn Klerk, one of Swein’s commanders, told Earl Rognvald that Swein
had deprived his commanders of some of the spoils of raids in the
Hebrides. Rather than make an enemy of Swein, Rognvald compensated them
for Swein's cheating.

During Swein’s absence his lieutenant Margad had treated the people of
Caithness roughly. They complained to Hroald, a friend of Rognvald’s, in
Wick. Shortly afterwards Margad killed Hroald and several followers. Swein
and Margad then ransacked Caithness.

In response Earl Rognvald besieged
Lambaborg but Swein and Margad made a daring escape via high cliffs. They
then journeyed to Duffus in Morayshire where they met some Orkneymen in a
trading vessel. From there they all sailed south to the Isle of May where
they plundered a monastery.

Swein then visited David I, King of
the Scots, in Edinburgh. He was well received and the King even
compensated a number of people who had been robbed by the Viking.

Swein persuaded the King to
facilitate his reconciliation with Earl Rognvald and so was able to return
to his estates. One can imagine the King preempting the excuse which
British Prime Minister Tony Blair used to justify his deputy’s unruly
behaviour – “It’s just Swein being Swein”.

Many years later, about 1154, Swein
captured two vessels of Earl Harald, who was living in Wick at the time.
Swein then sailed to Aberdeen where he visited King Malcolm and again was
well received.

On returning to Orkney, Swein
arranged a truce with his enemy Earl Erlend. Erlend reported that the King
of Norway wanted the part of Orkney held by Earl Harald. After a skirmish
with Swein and Erlend near Stromness, Harald agreed to give Erlend his
share of Orkney and returned to Caithness.

Some time later Swein and Erlend
sailed to Berwick where they seized a vessel with a valuable cargo.
Afterwards Swein put into the Island of May and sent men to Edinburgh to
tell the King of Scots about his plunder. The King had heard that Swein
had been captured and was planning to pay a ransom for his release.

When Swein and Erlend returned to
Orkney, Earls Rognvald and Erlend agreed that each should have half of
Orkney but Rognvald later reneged on the agreement and aligned himself
with Earl Harald.

Swein was with Earl Erlend in South
Ronaldsay when Rognvald and Harald landed with large forces. Swein and
Erlend sailed to Caithness leaving word that they intended to escape to
the Hebrides. They set off but cunningly exploited a change in wind
direction and headed back to Orkney where, although heavily outnumbered,
they killed many of Rognald’s and Harald’s men, although the Earls
escaped.

About 1156, when Swein was absent,
Rognald and Harald attacked and killed Earl Erlend and most of his men.
Swein and his men then sailed to Rousay where he killed Erlend
(brother-in-law of Thorfinn) after overhearing him boasting of how he had
killed Earl Erlend.

Swein, Rognvald and Harald then
negotiated a peace, which was immediately broken by Harald occupying
Swein’s estate at Gairsay. Swein’s utter ruthlessness was demonstrated by
him having to be dissuaded from burning down his own house with his wife
and daughter inside, only because he was not certain that Harald was there
at the time.

When later pursued by Harald, Swein
cunningly hauled his boat inside a cave and waited. By the time Harald
reached the cave the mouth was flooded and there was no sign of Swein.
Swein then faked a shipwreck to make Harald think he had drowned.

Some time later, however, Swein
finally made peace with Earls Rognvald and Harald.

Every summer Earls Rognvald and
Harald visited Caithness to hunt reindeer. About 1158 Thorbiorn Klerk made
a surprise fatal attack on Rognvald at Halkirk after which Harald took
sole possession of the islands. Swein and his wife Ingirid fostered
Harald’s son Hakon when he was very young. When Hakon grew up, Swein took
him on all his raids.

Each spring Swein would sow his
crops and then go off on a raid with his ships, returning after midsummer.
He called this raid his "spring viking". After the harvest was gathered he
went off on another raid, his “autumn viking”. These raids took him as far
south as the Scilly Isles.

In winter Swein would host much
feasting and drinking and would perhaps have applied his cunning to chess
or other popular board games requiring skill and strategy.

Swein finally decided about 1171
that he was going to hang up his sword. He wanted to end on a high note so
he sailed from Orkney to Dublin and captured the city. Swein made the
fatal mistake, however, of returning with his crew to their ships for the
night. When they returned to Dublin the next day they fell into pits which
had been dug by the citizens overnight and many were slain after a valiant
fight, Swein being the last to die.

So for once Swein was outfoxed and
he paid for it with his life. He had survived to the relatively old age of
55 and probably wouldn’t have enjoyed retirement anyway.

We look back in horror today at
some of his exploits but he was very much a man of his time who did appear
to have certain standards in relation, for example, to keeping his word.

During his turbulent life Swein
gained the respect of Kings, Earls and commoners but it is difficult to
see how he made a worthwhile contribution to Scottish life, lasting or
otherwise. There are not even obvious traces remaining of his two castles.

Swein’s grandson Gunni is thought
to have been the progenitor of the Gunn clan, whose heartland is in
Caithness. In the 1920’s Swein’s much diluted blood ran in the veins of
his Caithnessian descendant Neil M. Gunn as he became a world famous
author of imaginative novels about life in the Highlands, a far cry from
his philistine ancestor.

Most Caithnessians know that their
county was once part of the Viking empire but it is not clear how many of
them know much about Swein Asleifsson, a fellow Caithnessian and the
‘Ultimate Viking’. The author certainly didn’t before undertaking this
project!